


Succumb to Submerge

by BritanniaFork



Series: Under and Under and Under [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Force Ghosts, Force Sensitive Beings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-11 00:45:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7017370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BritanniaFork/pseuds/BritanniaFork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Under the orders of the Supreme Leader in order to prove his allegiance and potential to better serve him, Hux finds himself sent to a distant, practically unknown planet that is finely tuned into the Force. Although unsure what, exactly, to expect from the barren wasteland of a world he finds himself in, the last thing he had imagined to encounter was an incessant tug leading him towards a group of extremely Force-sensitive beings who bring forth more questions about the true nature of his mission than answers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Succumb to Submerge

**Author's Note:**

> A quick thank you too all my newfound friends in the Kylux community who I met through the Bang, and to the mods of this event for pulling this whole thing together - you're all so amazing and being around all of you and writing this has helped to pull me out of writers' block! To each one of you, thank you so, _so_ much!! ♥

His first thoughts as the spherical body snapped into view after the jump back into realspace from hyperspace was that the word 'planet' certainly could not have described this place, no matter what the Supreme Leader had said upon assigning him his mission. Roughly the size of a particularly large asteroid rather than that of a planet, and vastly covered in dark, foreboding waters that offered no hints of life, the world had no given designation, on account of the fact it was located in the far reaches of known and explored space.

 

In fact, the only piece of information known to the lone man was impossible to glean from its outward appearance. This particular slice of knowledge had been supplied to him by the figure of Snoke before his departure, and it was a fact that he had displayed a significant interest in.

 

The planet, despite its seemingly desolate state, had a strong connection with the Force.

 

General Hux was there for this exact reason.

 

These strong ties to the Force had the potential to provide a great asset, the Supreme Leader had explained in his ominous boom of a voice. An asset that he deemed to be worthy of further exploration. Hux was to investigate the planet, alone, collect what data he could and then return to his position aboard the _Finalizer_. The subtext, Hux knew, read as follows: success in this assignment would lead to greater opportunities in the future. If he did well his undying allegiance to the Supreme Leader would be proved. He could be trusted to serve him, be loyal to him and the First Order above all else, and would do so without a doubt. The journey he was about to undertake was crucial; not only to Snoke's interests but to Hux's future.

 

The Supreme Leader's parting words had echoed throughout the summoning chamber. Powerful, consuming, a smothering cloud of smoke. It was much like smoke that the image of the Supreme Leader had faded away after all of the finer details of the mission had been disclosed and the General dismissed; and like smoke, Hux knew, the powerful Force wielder was much deadlier than the projected apparition let on.

 

Usually, he did not dwell on this fact, however in light of his recently acquired orders he couldn't keep the thoughts at bay - they flooded to him from the moment he exited the summoning chamber into the halls of the _Finalizer_. He was to venture out to an uncharted planet, unknown to all those except Snoke. Alone. The potential implications were nothing short of unnerving, and the knowledge that Snoke could snuff out his life like a blanket smothering flame prompted suspicion in the furthest corners of his military-tuned mind. If the planet was so in tune with the Force why was he requesting Hux to investigate it?

 

His knowledge of the power's mystical ways was very much limited - having no 'sensitivity' for it himself - and he figured that a powerful wielder such as Snoke would have been able to investigate the situation himself from wherever in the galaxy he happened to be lurking. Surely his mastery of the Force would allow for him to extend his powers across however much a distance that happened to be? Surely that would use fewer resources, and therefore, be more beneficial? Unless, of course, there were other factors – factors that he, and perhaps even the rest of the Order, were entirely unaware of.

 

Sense soon caught up with the General, and he made sure to snap off the spreading tendrils of unease as quickly as they had begun to take root in his mind. Not only was the thought alone highly treasonous but it was also decidedly false. The Supreme Leader showed a clear dedication to the preservation of the First Order and its future, and Hux was a key part of that future. Snoke had said so himself, once; he was built for a higher calling, one that Snoke had envisioned through the Force, one that put him in a position of great importance and power over the whole of the Order, and the galaxy in its entirety. That was his path. His destiny.

 

Given this information, the analysis was clear: Snoke would not sabotage his own plans.

 

The Supreme Leader was the highest authority and could be trusted. Undoubtedly so.

 

Hux had begun to make his way towards the _Finalizer_ 's bridge, direction sure and pace never faltering even as he delved into the recesses of his own thoughts. By the time his feet hit the deck of the bridge and his steps took him across the walkway his thought process had fully righted itself, focused purely on the task at hand.

 

After taking time to patrol the bridge, noting each of his personnel diligently working at their posts – he didn't need to look to know they were, had confidence that they would be doing so, but found comfort from the visual proof that the _Finalizer_ would be in their good hands during his departure – the General turned to Mitaka and finalised the details of the vessel's command in his absence, to be taken into effect immediately. The lieutenant snapped to a rigid salute, affirmed his orders, and with that Hux nodded, turned, and left the bridge.

 

On his way to the hangar, he took a brief detour to his personal quarters. As soon as he stepped into the rooms Millicent wound around his legs, purring loudly and rubbing a cheek against the leather of his boots. Hux pressed the control panel, shutting the door behind him with a satisfying hiss, and reached down to pull the bundle of orange fur into his arms.

 

He scratched behind Millie's ears as he made his way across the main room, a decently sized space made up of bare dark grey walls and shiny black floors. Little to no furniture was present in the room, only the regulated necessities provided within all officer's quarters; a table in the room's center, a few chairs surrounding it, storage cases and shelving against the walls, and most prominently a desk in the far corner of the room surrounded by several monitors and datapads.

 

Crossing the room, Hux passed through the open doorway to the right that provided entrance to a small kitchen area, one of the given perks of rising up in the ranks. The colour scheme was similar to that of the main room, with the occasional red highlight on the cupboards and some appliances.

 

On the floor just on the inside of the doorway sat a pair of food bowls – a bright red to stand out against the black of the durasteel floor – one half-filled with water, the other empty. Hux gently placed Millicent on the floor and picked up the bowls, first topping up her water before locating and opening a sealed sash of cat food, emptying it into the second bowl. Absently he admired her cleanliness and efficiency; the bowl had been licked clean and not a drop of the jelly-like food mix had found its way onto the surrounding floor.

 

As he placed both bowls back in their place Millicent made her way over, headbutting his hand seemingly in thanks before turning her attention to the fresh meal in front of her and beginning to eat. Hux gave her another scratch behind the ears before leaving his quarters. Captain Phasma would check in on her in his absence, he knew, the arrangements having been made quite some time ago.

 

Finally arriving at the hangar the General immediately noticed the presence of a dark Upsilon-class ship, shadowed by a platoon of stormtroopers stood to attention. The Supreme Leader had told him during his mission briefing to expect such a sight waiting for him upon his arrival, and so the image presented before him was not much of a surprise.

 

One small detail that threw Hux for a moment, however, was, in fact, the small platoon of troopers situated beside the shuttle. 'Shadowed' it seemed was a perfect description of their presence; their armour was completely black, so much so that it appeared to swallow all the light that hit it. Hux had never seen these particular troopers before but assumed they were here under the Supreme Leader's command. Likely they piloted the shuttle.

 

His assumption was confirmed by the platoon's captain, easily identified by the dark red tints to their armour, who stepped forward on his approach to the shuttle and gave him a crisp salute. Words filtered through the voicepiece of their helmet, informing the General that they and their men were, in fact, acting on orders from the Supreme Leader to provide Hux with a method of transport for his mission. The platoon of men behind the captain filed out into two neat lines either side of the entryway and ramp leading into the craft. The platoon saluted sharply, then held perfectly still.

 

Hux was certain he had not let his mask of impassiveness slip and fall, but something in his expression must have changed at least slightly as the captain promptly proceeded to explain that the General would be taking the trip alone; the nature of the mission was classified information, after all. Understanding perfectly, Hux nodded once in thanks and boarded the shuttle. As he strode up the entry ramp he thought how peculiar this situation seemed to be. Although he understood the need for information to stay classified, understood it deeply, he couldn't help but find the lack of trooper aid and protection to be... an unsettling thought. Especially on a mission of this nature, wherein he was headed to an unknown planet that could be home to Maker-knows-what kinds of diabolical and barbaric creatures of the universe.

 

The seeds of doubt, firmly planted in his mind from his earlier observations and thoughts surrounding the Supreme Leader's motivations, quickly began to grow and spread themselves further. Something about the situation felt off, and Hux couldn't help the mounting feeling of being kept severely out of a large, looming, and decidedly important loop. He continued to chalk this up to a wider, beneficial set of causes that were out of his control – but the more he thought about it, the more he accepted this to be the case, the greater his unease became. The implication that something greater and unknown, something he could not control, had such influence over the proceedings of his life filled the General with a chilling feeling he couldn't quite put a name to, prompting him to once again put these observations to bed at the back of his mind and turn his attention fully to his new surroundings.

 

On the wall just inside the shuttle's entrance was the control panel for the entry ramp. Hux paused for a few seconds to program the ramp closed, listening to the hiss of pistons and ship mechanics as he made his way further into the craft.

 

The shuttle was not of an impressive size, about size of the main living space of his quarters, much smaller than it had appeared from the outside. Sat in the hangar, the Upsilon's folded wings had given it a much grander and looming appearance than Hux believed it was worth. Its interior contained only what was necessary; the cockpit was situated at the front of the craft, but a majority of the space was a single room filled only by a simple, single bunk and several storage units housing, presumably, weaponry, rations, and other required equipment.

 

The ramp clunked shut as the General made his way through the main room to the cockpit, taking a spot in the pilot's seat and busying himself with the instrumentation in front of him. He had, of course, memorized all information the Supreme Leader had disclosed to him, and had no trouble recalling the co-ordinates of his destination and moving to input them into the shuttle's navigation system.

 

Hux's eyebrows raised in surprise – he allowed them to, allowed his impeccably- held mask of indifference to slip in his lack of company – as he quickly discovered the ship's navigation had the co-ordinates already, saved into the system's memory.

 

Hux felt the roots of doubt dig deeper into his mind –only to forcibly cut them off by tuning into the military-coded, tactical section of his conscience. The Supreme Leader must have ordered for them to be programmed into the shuttle's system prior to its arrival at the _Finalizer_ , a precaution taken to ensure the mission would run smoothly. It was crucial it did, after all. Snoke knew what he was doing, Hux told himself, and with that he began his departure from the hangar, abolishing any element of suspicion from his mind as he once again focused fully on the task. He set his hands on the ship's motion controls with a sense of finality and disembarked from the hangar.

 

Once the General had put a decent distance between himself and the _Finalizer_ he turned his attention back to the navigation system, loading up the co-ordinates of his destination and preparing to make the jump to hyperspace. His mind drifted to the crew of his beloved flagship. Despite having only been stationed as commander of the _Finalizer_ for a mere few months, the ship was perfectly in tune to his method of command. The adaption to his leadership had happened almost instantly, in fact. Hux had known for sure then that he was working with the finest personnel the First Order had to offer. He had as much respect for his crew as his crew had for him, and he ensured it was part of his duty to make that a known fact. It felt wrong to leave like this, with nothing more than hastily placed, but no less clear and precise, orders for his absence. Both his ship and, more importantly, his crew had deserved more than that, but the crucial urgency and security of his mission had not allowed the General time for a prolonged disclosure.

 

His crew would understand, he knew, but the point still stood. It was as close to sentimental as Hux would allow himself to be.

 

With that final thought in mind, Hux had looked over the instrumentation in front of him, ensuring everything was fully functioning and preparations had been completed efficiently. Happy with what he saw, he flicked a few switches and watched stars blaze past the shuttle's viewport as he made the jump to hyperspace.

 

\--------

 

It was a few hours later that the ship's navigation system had beeped incessantly, prompting the General to move from the ship's main room back into the cockpit, flicking switches and working with the controls in front of him as he brought the shuttle back to realspace.

 

Hence, here he was. The spherical body of the asteroid-esque planet had snapped into view in front of him, providing him with his first glimpse of his mission's destination. However instead of the feeling of pride and relief one would usually expect such a sight to elicit, Hux was overcome with the same steadily rising, chilling feeling he had experienced before. As the world before him drew closer, looming over the shuttle despite its smaller-than-usual-planet size, he found a word on the tip of his tongue, finally able to put it forward as a name to the feeling.

 

Dread.

 

Hux both felt and heard himself swallow hard, imagining himself swallowing the sense of dread as he did so but found he couldn't will it away, no matter how hard he tried. He was hyper-aware of his breathing, becoming faster and more erratic as the shuttle continued its path towards the planet below. He reached forward and grasped the motion controls with his now-bare hands. Having found a set of clothing in one of the storage units during his time in hyperspace Hux concluded the Supreme Leader had them placed there for good reason and changed clothes, placing his folded uniform in the same compartment. As such he was not wearing his usual leather gloves – and he was aghast to find his hands shaking.

 

Tightening his grip on the controls, so much so that his knuckles turned white. The General was mildly surprised the bones didn’t try to tear through his pale, freckled skin, Hux managed, by some miracle, to successfully steer the craft through the planet's atmosphere. Working through the rising sense of apprehension, which was rapidly morphing into a seemingly irrational sense of panic as time ticked on, Hux scanned the planet's surface for a safe space to land.

 

This was easier said than done, it turned out. The planet's surface was, as Hux had observed before, mostly composed of dark, unmoving waters which, on closer inspection, were filled with forests upon forests of vine-like plant life, some of which broke and collected at the surface of the vast ocean. Scattered throughout the inky sea were rocky islands of varying sizes and steepness.

 

The shuttle kept a smooth course, simply flying over the planet's surface at a more-than-safe distance. That was, until the General's roaming eyes fell on one particular island.

 

It was not the largest, not by far. In fact, it seemed to be of a fairly average size, maybe a few miles wide each way. Its land structure, however, was something to behold. It almost looked like some barbaric arena, mountains rising up in peaks to scrape the cloudless skies above as they surrounded a large, flat plain of rock in the center of the island. In the middle of this flatland was a strangely shaped rock formation, a fissure-like opening visible in one side that appeared to descend into a cave system that made its way underground.

 

Immediately Hux felt a strange sensation run through his body; like an overwhelming assurance that this was it – the way, the path to take, the light at the end of the tunnel. The sudden appearance of the feeling made him jolt in his seat though this did not affect the course of the shuttle as he steered it into the island's flat crater. As he made his descent Hux noted another fairly large crater just off from the stone structure at the crater's center and, curious, he steered the shuttle to land just beside it.

 

Once the craft was successfully landed and powered down, Hux moved himself to the main room. His hands were still jittering, even as he balled them into fists at his side as he sat on the bunk. He stayed like this for a while, simply breathing deeply to displace the overwhelming sense of anxiety and dread; the strange sensation of acceptance he had felt just prior to landing the shuttle had not helped matters, but rather further confused him. Which had only led to the anxiety climbing higher.

 

Hux reached into a nearby compartment where food and rations had been stored and pulled out some kind of ring-shaped roll from within. He didn’t pay the item much mind, simply bit into it and reflected on his situation. There was something about this small planetoid that unsettled him deep in his bones, something invisible but undoubtedly there. Once again Hux found his mind drifting towards the Supreme Leader, to the troops he'd sent with the shuttle, to Snoke's motives behind this mission. Being left in the dark about so much of the mission wasn't exactly a comfort to Hux. He needed to know the specifics; like how the _Finalizer_ 's inner mechanisms worked, which diet best benefited Millicent's health. Those specifics he knew, and through that he was certain he had power within those situations, had control.

 

But like this, sat in the small shuttle and cramming the last of the roll into his mouth, he was isolated of the precise information he needed. Even worse, he was entirely unaware of the general situation – arguably the first things he should be aware of.

 

He was entirely in the dark.

 

Hux stood abruptly and quickly made his way to the shuttle's door, thumbing the controls to open it. The inside of the shuttle was too cramped, ramping up his panicked state even further. He needed to step outside, needed to breathe.

 

He set foot onto the gravelly surface of the planet and, almost instantaneously, a sharp jolt erupted from his chest. Hux looked down, expecting something. There was nothing. The jolt happened again, beginning to feel more like a tug this time, and Hux simply stared down at his chest. His mind scrambled for any kind of explanation to the phantom sensation, coming up with nothing for a moment before settling on the Supreme Leader once again.

 

This must be a test. Hux turned, another pull emerging, harder and almost in protest, as he walked back into the shuttle and sat once again on the bunk. His eyes fixed themselves outside the shuttle's door. This was a test, a task from Snoke. Hux had known the mission wouldn't be easy, so that's what this must be. He was proving his loyalty to the Supreme Leader by completing this task, after all. It was logical that this chance would be used to fully test him.

 

What exactly was being tested, however, Hux was unsure of.

 

The tug was continuous; beckoning him, pleading for him to come closer, though to what he did not know. The intensity had increased to the point where the sensation of the pull was edging towards painful - impossible to ignore for much longer.

 

Hux exhaled a drawn-out sigh, scrubbed a hand across his face and stood again. He retrieved a shoulder bag from where he had placed it on the floor next to the bunk, having filled it with items he deemed important for investigating the planet's surface. Rations, a datapad, a scanner, a medkit, and a few small tracking beacons. He slung the bag over his shoulder before picking up a standard-issue blaster, another item he had found in his earlier scavenges, doing the same with the weapon and then exiting the shuttle. Finally stepping out onto the planet's gravelly, dusty surface.

 

Immediately the tug seemed to intensify further and Hux had to take a few deep breaths to steady himself, willing down the urge to throw up from the intensity of the pain. It felt as if a rope was tightly attached to something inside his ribcage and was pulling it clean out of him. Pressing a hand to his chest he almost expected to find the baggy, black shirt he wore soaked in blood and a ragged, hollow hole within him. No such thing existed, and yet the pain was beyond real, seeming to tear straight into the deepest parts of him. Hux moved the hand to hold the straps of the bag and blaster on his shoulder, grit his teeth against the agony and began walking.

 

It was easy enough to follow the pull. The sensation shifted as he walked, attempting to steer him in a certain direction it seemed. For a while Hux simply followed its course, his eyes scanning the landscape surrounding him, fully taking it in for the first time.

 

It truly was a wasteland of a world that General Hux found himself walking upon.

 

From what he could see in the slowly encompassing, pitch-darkness of the encroaching night, the island was an absolute wreck up close. The General slowed his pace to a stop, barely managing to ignore the protesting tug of the non-existent rope at his action, and slowly cast his view across the horizon. The vast flat plain in which he had landed was littered with rubble; broken boulders and heaps of gravelly remains, no sign of greenery or any life at all. The surrounding spear-tipped mountains seemed to ascend impossibly high from this vantage point, tearing into the sky and barely visible in the current lowering light but looming over the flatland – the ominous haunt of a daunting, monumental presence; a promise of a distant, far-off harm to those unprepared to meet it.

 

Closer to where Hux stood, to his right, a mere few hundred meters away, was the crater he had taken note of aboard the shuttle. Still curious he began to make his way towards it, walking in the complete opposite direction to the tugging sensation and ignoring the constantly building, discomforting pain blooming within his chest in favour of doing as his mission asked of him – investigating the unknown elements of this desolate planet.

 

Hux soon found that walking away from the direction the insistent force insisted he go in was a worthless effort. Cold, piercing talons tore into his being, curled and violently ripped him back. The chilling burn brought him to his knees, chipped gravel and rock debris digging into his skin through his trousers. He swallowed hard against a gag, once again battling down the urge to keel over, press his hands into the dust-covered ground and empty his stomach, this time with a greater sense of urgency. He idly wondered if there would be blood if he simply gave in. He decided he didn't particularly want to find out.

 

Pushing himself up on shaking arms, Hux returned to his feet and immediately staggered in the direction the tug was indicating. The pain calmed, never fading fully but not nearly as blinding as it was in that moment. All the General's attention focused on regulating his now- uneven breathing and alternating between clutching his stomach and his chest, attempting to will himself to not throw up, and for the echoes of that unbearable agony to release his insides.

 

By the time he had somewhat managed to pull himself together enough to once again take in his surroundings – thankful, in this moment, that the squadron of troopers back on the _Finalizer_ were not ordered to accompany him, and therefore would never witness him in this state. Hux realised that the pull had steered him right to the fissure-like opening within the peculiar rock structure, center of the crater. Before him the rock cracked open, revealing a slowly narrowing passageway that lazily inclined downwards into what Hux presumed was an underground cavern or cavern system.

 

Sure enough, the tug was insisting he venture further in.

 

Turning and glancing back at the shuttle in the distance Hux weighed his options. Or attempted to, at least, though in reality he did not really have any. The searing-cold pain from mere minutes ago was still fresh in his mind. Clearly turning back was not an option he could pursue, no matter how much he may have wanted to at that moment. For right now, it was not only the throbbing twinge of the tug that was growing steadily stronger but also the mounting sense of dread that he had never truly managed to escape from, not since its first tendrils spread back on the _Finalizer_. Hux turned his gaze back down the dark, descending passageway in front of him, unable to shake the feeling that somewhere down there was something, something he knew, was familiar with deep in his conscious, whether he was fully aware of it or not.

 

Something that would, inevitably, cause him great harm.

 

It made no logical sense, he knew. But then again, so much of this situation, and all that had led to it, was illogical. The logical part of Hux's brain must have shut down, he figured, as he truly began to entertain the thought; there was something down there, something familiar in some strange way, something that was pulling him in.

 

Without turning to look back at the shuttle, abandoning any scraps of logical reasoning he had left – as, at this point, that in itself was the logical step for him to take – Hux began to step forwards, towards the fissure.

 

Turning the bag around on his shoulder to better reach into it, Hux pulled out the scanner from within, re-settling the bag into its previous position before activating the device, never once losing his pace as he began to make his way into the cave's opening. The scanner's screen lit up with a whirring noise, illuminating the immediate vicinity within the dark passageway, followed by a series of beeps as programs set themselves up and calculations started to be made.

 

As he made his way through the passage, Hux kept his eyes glued to the scanner's screen. 'NO LIFE FORMS DETECTED' blinked back at him in bright-red letters, just as he had suspected from his observations of the planet – he ran the calculation again, however. Then again, after the same result came back. When the red words glared at him a third time, the General stopped and raised his gaze from the device.

 

The cavern had narrowed somewhat, but could still easily accommodate his form. The scanner's screen lit up the small area around him, embedded in the stone walls in the distance were clusters of pale-blue crystals, dimly glowing. And further down the passage, a fair distance from where Hux was currently stood, was another fissure-like opening. A brighter light emitted from it, lighting up the area at the end of the tunnel.

 

Hux realised, then, that he could barely feel the tugging sensation. Shutting down the scanner, causing its light to fade out, and keeping his eyes on the light at the end of the passageway, Hux walked forward towards it.

 

The tunnel, it turned out, opened up into a cavern.

 

The cavern was illuminated by the bright glow of the water and exceedingly large in size - the space reminding the General of Snoke's summoning chamber back aboard the _Finalizer_. Every sound echoed, bouncing and resonating from the dark, damp stone walls. Droplets of water fell from stalactites hanging from the ceiling, running down the blade-like structures - poised in grisly promise - before beading at the tip and breaking away. Their descent was fast and silent until they met the steady body of water waiting below them, the ensuing 'plip' sounding and returning again, again, again until Hux had lost count. Quieter and quieter until it faded, died; then another took its place, the resonance continuing once again. A pattern of falls and collisions silent, meaningless, but nevertheless not stopping.

 

Hux moved forwards, walking further into the cavern before stopping a few inches away from the water's edge. Staring into the luminescent liquid, his mind conjured a memory - a dream, frequenting him for some time, years past. Images of dark caves, liquid light, searing red strips of bright, hot agony. Although the dream was his, as was its memory, it hadn't truly felt as if it had belonged. It had felt foreign; a stolen pain, from another source.

 

He had confronted the Supreme Leader about the dreams, a few weeks after they had become a regular occurrence. Snoke's expression had been hard to read - and he had proceeded to ensure the General that the dreams were nothing more than the usual recurring apparitions of one's imagination, before diverting the topic to a new set of invasion orders - but the millisecond moment's pause that had followed the initial confession spoke volumes. At the time, Hux had barely allowed Supreme Leader's hesitation a second thought. Now, however, light years away from the First Order and stood in this place, a mirror location to his recurring night-visions, his mind reeled.

 

The analysis followed: Snoke had been surprised at the mention of the dreams.

 

But what, exactly, did this mean?

 

Movement of water caught the General's attention. He filed the question away for later consideration and looked up, immediately catching sight of something slipping under the water's surface.

 

Something else was here.

 

Having caught no glimpse of the unidentified body Hux expected only the worst. Instinctively he had grasped the strap of the blaster hanging from his shoulder, tensed his arms in preparation, and begun to slowly move away from the water's edge.

 

He had barely made it two steps backwards before a limb emerged from the lake, right at the shore, reached forward and grasped, clawed at the wet, rocky sludge of the ground. The sudden appearance of the humanoid-looking appendage startled Hux. The second wasted by his shock was all the time the creature needed. Within that second the hand had come into contact with the General's right boot, digits curling around it as a second limb emerged, immediately finding and latching onto the ankle.

 

Then it tugged.

 

The force of the action pulled Hux's leg from underneath him, off-balancing him and he found himself sprawled on his back, eyes that had been fixed in horror at the pale, dripping hands grasping his foot set staring at the cavern roof. The hard collision of his head against the sharp rubble had caused his vision to black out suddenly, leaving him in dazed darkness as both of the creature's hands moved to get a solid grip on his ankle and drag his body back towards the lake.

 

Blinking furiously, vision slowly returning, Hux pulled up his left leg and began to kick downwards, attempting to hit the creature's arm and create an opening in which he could break free. Eventually, his boot came into contact with something and a quiet, sharp grunt from the creature assured him the blow had hurt somewhat. He pulled his leg back once again and drove it into the same place, this time with more force. There was an audible crack of bones breaking, accompanied by a shriek from the creature, and the hands released his leg, dropping his foot into the water.

 

The boots he wore were waterproof, but did not provide much shelter as his entire right leg, up to just above the knee, was suddenly submerged in the water – and, in the instant they breached the surface, Hux let out a shriek and sat up, ignoring the protesting pounding of his head. The lake's waters were so cold they were biting, its icy teeth sinking through the skin and flesh of the General's leg and into the muscles and bones beneath.

 

Intense pain shot up the limb, Hux's eyes swimming from the pure agony of it, not helped at all by his still-not-fully-corrected vision and throbbing of his skull. He blinked once, hard, and peeling his eyelids open again he froze in horror.

 

A humanoid shape rose from the water, directly in front of him. Its skin was pale with an almost ghostly blue tint to it, and as it continued to rise planes upon planes of it were slowly revealed. The creature wore no clothes to conceal its clearly human and female body form, and the long, dirty blonde hair that fell in wet ribbons from her head did not conceal much of anything.

 

The only part of her body that was fully concealed – discounting that which was still submerged, which was also very naked if the creature's upper body was anything to go by – was its head. Instead of being face-to-face with humanoid features, the General was instead greeted by a skull, adorned and decorated with strings of the aquatic plant life he had observed from the shuttle, and hollowed out shells and stones, looped through holes in the bone like one would loop an earring through an earlobe. The only way Hux knew this creature was, indeed, a humanoid life form was the pair of grey eyes that were set in a cold stare into his own.

 

He was sure the creature was about to lunge for him, tear him apart and drag him down into the depths below. Was absolutely certain as he saw the body before him begin to lean back, as if it was a spring preparing to uncoil, to let itself loose.

 

The chance never came, however, as suddenly, the creature's entire form stiffened like an outside force was forcing her to remain still, holding her in place. Then Hux felt something – a sensation somewhat similar to the one he had felt when first setting eyes on the island, back on the shuttle. The difference, however, was that this felt warm. Vaguely comforting. Familiar, and just so right that it was almost jarring.

 

Not only that but the General could also feel, with as much vivid clarity as he could feel the sensation of the rope-like coil and pull around the center of his chest, another life form enter the cavern from below. It was almost indescribable, and defied any sense of logic he had left after the preceding events of the day – he could feel their heart beat with his own, feel the ghost of body heat, the whisper of a golden warmth flowing over and through his skin, such a sharp contrast to the biting cold of the icy waters before him. The sense of familiarity increased tenfold, prompting a feeling of déjà vu that he couldn't shake. Images recalled earlier, images of the dream from years ago, once again flooded his mind. None of it made sense, all the pieces were too scattered together, there was no logic behind any of this.

 

Mind reeling, Hux was only brought out of his state of shock by the creature before him turning sharply to the side, as if suddenly released from the invisible hold, and crashing back into the water. The General scrambled to his feet, limbs shaking from cold and shock. Quickly securing his shoulderbag and blaster, he turned and began stumbling to make his way out of the cavern. He was stopped just at the entrance by the displacement of water behind him.

 

Expecting to once again face the creature from before, Hux was instead left surprised when he turned to rest his eyes upon a different figure, stood just a ways back from the water's edge.

 

This one was male. He had the same ghostly blue tint to his skin as the female creature had, none of which was covered by the thick, wet black curls that fell to his shoulders, as well as a skull large enough to fit his head into. Unlike the other creature, however, this one was not currently wearing the skull. Instead, it was held in his hands, in line with his chest, as he simply stared forward towards Hux.

 

Their gazes locked and the ginger man was too overcome by the intensified, unexplained feeling of something like warm, syrupy liquid running over his skin, infusing his body with a sense of overwhelming correctness - as if this was it, what was meant to be when in reality it simply made no logical sense. It was too much, and Hux found himself turning and rapidly making his way out of the cavern.

 

The General headed back towards the shuttle, unable to shake the overwhelming sensation from before. It was only when he arrived back at the craft, instantly shutting the entry ramp behind him, that his mind focused on the pulling sensation, which had once again reared its ugly head and made its home deep in his chest. It was not as intense as before, however; not as urgent and incessant as it had rapidly become when it had first begun to develop. Hux recalled when he had first entered the cavern, the sensation had slowly ebbed away on his journey down the passageways and had stopped completely by the time he had entered the cavern itself. At the time he was too focused on his scanner readings and newfound surroundings to pay much notice to this detail, but now that he had fully come to realise it he could not escape the conclusion that, logically, the pull had been... well, pulling him down into the cavern from the moment he had set foot on the planet.The scanner readings were something else the General found himself recalling, as he sat on the edge of the bunk and pulled out a ration bar to thoughtfully chew on. The equipment he had been provided with was the Order's finest technology – Snoke must have himself requested it to be provided, which made sense due to the crucial nature of this mission and the Supreme Leader's clear interest in what was to be found here – and so it was unlikely for its readings and calculations to be a mistake. Possible, yes, but highly unlikely.

 

Hux reached one hand into the shoulderbag sat next to him on the bunk, searching for a few moments before letting out a frustrated sigh. The scanner wasn't in the bag – last time he had made note of its presence it had been in his hand, just before the creature had appeared and attacked him. Given the events that followed it was likely he had dropped the device at some point, not realising, and therefore had not retrieved it before exiting the cavern.

 

The device was crucial to the mission. He would have to go back into the cavern and get it to complete his orders.

 

He bit hard into the last of the ration bar at the thought. He wanted nothing more than to be done with this planet, leave and never set foot on it again. As much as he wished to deny it, Hux could not ignore the fact that the situation in the cavern had shaken him to his core. His limbs were still jittering, even now while he was sat in the shuttle, far away from the nightmare-creatures from below and undoubtedly safe.

 

Somewhere far, far back in his military-tuned mind, a young-sounding voice called out, entertaining the idea of calling "kriff it all" and abandoning the mission. Hux firmly ignored this part of his conscious – not only did he have a mission of high importance to carry out for the Supreme Leader, one that would benefit not only Snoke but also Hux's position in the Order and take him one step closer to the future he was built for, but there was also the tugging sensation to consider. If the flesh-burning, spine-chilling agony he had experienced before was any indication, resisting the force was not a smart move. Especially, Hux imagined, if the distance was many light years rather than a mere few steps.

 

Having finished off the ration bar, the General pushed the shoulderbag off the edge of the bunk, listening to it drop to the floor as he settled himself onto the mattress. It was impossible to tell what time it was currently, seeing as the shuttle contained no chrono of any kind, no matter how hard Hux had searched to find one, and the planet was too far a distance from any sun to have a distinguishable day-night cycle. Despite this, he willed himself to sleep. His limbs were still shaking and the consistent apprehension and dread he had been feeling throughout this whole fiasco had at this point worn him out. So, with only the mild difficulty of regulating his slightly uneven breathing, the General fell into a fitful sleep.

 

\--------

 

Hux fell into a pattern for what he theorised to be a good few days – though the lack of any time- tracking device made this theory hard to prove. He attempted many cycles of sleep but was constantly disturbed by streams of images that fluttered through his mind, each more vivid than the last and seeming to piece together to form some strange narrative.

 

Footsteps resonate through a cavern; a pair of them, one walking just behind the other. One figure turns to another, smaller one, and the taller of the two engages conversation. They seem to be asking the smaller a question – many questions, maybe, and they seem to get some answers. Though not enough answers it seems, the figure looks awfully put-out as they walk to the water's edge.

 

That part of the dream was always lacking clarity, no matter how many times it was re-visited in Hux's sleeping mind. The figures were silhouettes, their surroundings nothing more than a monochrome backdrop.

 

Then, however, the images took a turn.

 

A red light ignites in the taller figure's hand, stretching out into an elongated cylinder of plasma. A lightsaber, Hux had identified.

 

Upon its ignition, the entire scene flares to life. The shorter figure is draped in shadows under a deep black robe – a hood coming up to hide his face from view. The taller figure is clad in something reminiscent of the robes of the old Jedi under training, harkening back to images the General remembers seeing in educational holograms back in his academy days.

 

The most striking detail about the second figure, however, is its face, contorted in a mixture of confusion and mounting horror as the smaller figure strides forward. The man stood in Hux's dreams, vivid with colour as he is backed towards the glowing lake from the caverns far below, was the same being who both unsettled and perplexed the General, from the moment he had first seen him after the female creature had attacked.

 

Between bouts of fitful sleep, Hux had been dragged multiple times by that same invisible force down the caverns below. Each time upon his arrival, without fail, the male creature was stood at the water's edge. Some occasions he held the skull between his hands, others he did not, but he was a constant that Hux quickly grew accustomed to encountering on his visits to the lake, even if it filled him with unease.

 

It was not so much the creature himself that provoked the deep, unsettling feeling in the General's gut, but rather the sensations that the creature did invoke, in some strange knock-on effect. By this point, Hux had no doubt that the tugging sensation was not pulling him to the cavern as a whole, but rather to this strange creature inhabiting it. Him in particular, and not any of the others that inhabited the same space; he knew of at least three others at this point, the one that had first attacked him and two others – both male and skull-clad – who had observed him quizzically, almost as if analysing and judging him, but had made no move to do him harm.

 

Hux assumed their calculating gazes had something to do with the male creature he seemed to share the strange bond with. Yes, he was certain there was something of that nature there. Ever since his first arrival at the underground lake, the sensation of the pull had ceased as soon as he laid eyes on the creature at the shore. And whenever the creature left, as soundlessly as he sat in Hux's company, and the General followed suit and returned to the shuttle, the incessant force would start up again, slowly growing until Hux caved and followed it once more.

 

It was a peculiar, monotonous, torturous cycle, and Hux believed himself to be slowly going mad.

 

He did have a name to put to the creature, however. On one of his visits – which, exactly, he could not remember – the creature had broken the strangely comfortable silence between them by speaking a single word.

 

"Kylo."

 

Hux had looked up from the scanner in his lap; he had retrieved it on his second visit to the cavern and in that moment had been working with its internal electronics, attempting to come to a conclusion that answered the question of why it still wasn't picking up any life form signals, aside from his own, when there was clearly something directly in front of him. He had shot the creature in front of him a quizzical look, somewhat appreciating the change from being silently stared at but not at all understanding the meaning of the word.

 

The creature had clearly sensed his confusion, probably saw it written on his face, and so elaborated.

 

"It's what I was called, once."

 

Although it was clearly intended to clear up any confusion, it had only worked somewhat. Hux had found his initial questions answered but was suddenly attacked by new ones. Only one of them he managed to give a voice to.

 

"You mean it's your name?"

 

The creature – Kylo – had immediately shook his head, clearing his throat slightly before speaking again in the same deep, resonating voice, "It's what I was called."

 

A few beats of silence fell over the pair, and then, "Hux," the ginger man uttered quietly, the sound seeming to boom through the cavern nonetheless. "My name is Hux."

 

Back in the shuttle, an uncounted number of encounters with Kylo after that incident, Hux found himself, not for the first time, attempting to piece together all the pieces of this abstract, illogical, and almost unreal puzzle. At this point the General had abandoned all sense of logic; not only was it serving to further confuse him when applied to the scenario he found himself in, but it also seemed so far from the world he currently lived in. At the center of it all was Kylo.

 

Kylo who, for all intents and purposes, should not be alive.

 

The story told by his dream-visions had continued, showing Hux a scene from some kind of torturous nightmare. Betrayal overcame Kylo's face – his significantly less pale and ghostly-blue face – as the smaller, hooded figure impaled him with the saber in his hand, over and over and over, the sizzling sound of burning blood and flesh resonating through the cavern like some disturbed choir. Some nights Hux had awoken to the phantom taste of blood on his lips, accompanied by the vivid visions of plasma blades sinking deep and hot through puckering skin and muscle and flesh, prompting him to fight against the overwhelming urge to vomit.

 

Kylo should be dead. While his lips and skin were, indeed, blue, blue enough for one to question whether he was some phantasm of one's deluded imagination, his torso was not littered with holes from the saber's blade. He still stood upright, still looked much like he did in the vision. The blue tint to his skin was likely due to the luminescent water. It was only logical.

 

The application of logic to the situation threw Hux for a loop, not in its presence there but rather through the unease he felt at it. The realisation caused his mind to reel; here he was, a man renowned in the Order and amongst his crew for sticking strictly to logical explanation, feeling unsettled to the point of rejection at a logical factor being applied to this situation. He was stunned to find that he could not accept this as being the truth – that there simply had to be a more abstract reasoning for this.

 

Maybe, he thought, he truly had lost his mind.

 

He almost did not pay attention as his legs began to move, took him out of the shuttle and across the planet, down through the winding passageways to the lake cavern down below. He stood at the cavern's opening holding nothing, having left all his equipment and one blaster back on board the shuttle, as he took in the sight before him.

 

Sure enough, Kylo was waiting for him. He was not submerged in water, however, not at all, instead sat cross-legged upon the lake's shore, seemingly meditating. Hux watched him for a few moments, mind distantly recalling more images of the Jedi from academy sessions, wondering if the man before him was not cold at all. This was not the first time Hux had ventured into the cavern to find Kylo, in all his naked glory, sat upon the sore in some position or another. The first time the General had promptly moved his gaze towards the walls, the stalactites on the ceiling, the glowing water, anything to avoid the possibility of staring at Kylo in... certain places. Now, however, he did not more his gaze from the man in front of him. In whatever amount of time had passed, and throughout however many meetings the two had shared as Hux had been pulled back and forth between two separate destinations – two different worlds, in a way, within one liminal space – the sight of the man prompted a sense of comfort from within. Almost like what he imagined the feeling of coming home to be like.

 

Kylo had been the only constant in this whole twisted, confusing affair. The constant in the middle of it all, it seemed, and the center of whatever force had been acting on Hux, pulling him to this one location over and over again. But a constant nonetheless. A tether the General had bound himself to, a sense of right in the wrong, and a sharp burst of clarity in all the unknown.

 

It made no sense as to why this was the case, but at this point, all shreds of logic had been flung out the airlock.

 

"Are you a ghost?" Was the first thing that flew out of Hux's mouth. _How eloquent_ , he thought to himself. "You cannot be alive - I've seen it. And yet here you are..."

 

Kylo dropped his hands from where they were resting on his knees in his meditation, letting them fall to the floor at his side. His eyes flicked open and Hux thought he saw some kind of mirth scattered in the liquid, ale-like colour of his irises.

 

"Not in the sense that you're implying," he began, "and I know you have seen it. I _allowed_ you to see it." His expression turned to one of confusion and Hux found himself equally perplexed, if not more so. "The first time you witnessed it, in those dreams from years ago, was beyond my doing - likely my... former master's work. The re-livings of those dreams you have witnessed while on this planet, however, were because of me."

 

A couple of silent beats followed in which Hux tried to fully gather his thoughts. Everything was being thrown all over the place, making sense but at the same time leaving him frazzled, trying to grasp the meaning behind it all. Before he could voice his further confusion Kylo spoke again.

 

"What you witnessed is exactly what you thought it to be. A single, influential moment captured in time. The beginning of all of this." He motioned around the cavern with his arms before pushing himself to his feet. Hux's gaze wavers for a second, flicking down to the man's chest before rising again to meet his eyes. In them, he thought he saw the mirth increase tenfold.

 

"You were killed. Here, in this cavern." The statement sounded more like a question when it passed his lips, the General not quite believing everything despite his certainty and Kylo's previous words – not quite wanting that to be the case either. To accept this as the truth was to accept everything else his mind had been avoiding addressing: the true nature of his mission was coming to light.

 

"You were killed," Hux continued, "by whom I do not know, and now you're kept alive. Not exactly a ghost but nevertheless – kept in a constant state of limbo by some external force-" he inhaled sharply. Surely not, but of course. The lightsaber, the meditation, the robes in his vision. He exhaled a withering sigh, closing his eyes for a few seconds. He had heard of the concept of Force ghosts during his training in the academy, through his studies of the Jedi and their ways. It all made sense – this planet was, after all, extremely Force-sensitive. Surely it could sustain one – four, recalling his three other encounters – life forms as phantasmic figures, and hold them in a permanent limbo.

 

"Seven." Hux blinked his eyes open again and looked at Kylo quizzically, the exclamation seeming pulled from nowhere, with no context. "There are seven of us. Not only the four you've met."

 

Mind-reading, the General's brain helpfully supplied. Kriffing hell.

 

Hints of a wry smile formed on the edges of Kylo's lips; clearly he had heard those thoughts, too. Hux concluded in the back of his mind that this was how the man had placed the images and visions into his conscious. The thought of someone having the ability to read his mind and place images into his mind's eye should have deeply unsettled the General, however, Hux could not find it in himself to care. At this point he had long before given up on the mindset he had stuck to back at the Order, knowing full well by now that nothing was entirely what it seemed. But here was this man – ghost, creature, he wasn't entirely sure anymore – who had provided him with answers that he would never have been able to come to without his intervention. He had opened his eyes, saved him in a way before the rest of these events played out.

 

Yes, Hux thought, as he felt the phantom 'clicks' of the pieces falling together. He knew what came next.

 

"So you know why you're here," Kylo stated as if it was fact. And it was, really.

 

Hux took a deep breath and leaned towards acceptance, pulling that which he had tried to blissfully ignore to the front of his mind. The doubt and anxious feelings that had begun back on the _Finalizer_ were not a fluke of his apprehension to please Snoke. When he had realised this he was not entirely sure, but even so he spoke with confidence and clarity.

 

"This is why Snoke sent me; because _this_ is a higher calling. Higher than any I have ever known, than most people will ever know, and this _is_ my destiny. Not by my choice but by his." A pause. Kylo's face was blank, betraying nothing. "He killed you. Snoke did."

 

And there it was – the betrayal from his dream's visions, flickering intensely through the irises of the man before him. And as the next words were spoken, Hux was sure his eyes mirrored that same emotion, in all its intensity.

 

"And this was Snoke's plan, the true nature of my mission here. My fate is the same as yours."

 

It shouldn't have made sense. And yet it did, blindingly, like a wave of clarity that had washed over Hux's vision. The phantom tugging sensation, the feeling of the pulling of a rope that bound them together – it wasn't physical but it was there, real. Whether it was natural or something forced upon them both by Snoke, scripted to mould to his overarching plans, Hux did not know. And he would likely never find out, if this all played out the way he anticipated it was about to…

 

But even so, as he flicked his gaze between Kylo's eyes, he felt it again. The feeling of arriving at a set destination after a long, arduous journey. The lift of weight off the shoulders. His mind flicked back to the _Finalizer_ for a second, to his crew, and Phasma, and Millicent, but it was so far away. So far and so, so lost. He couldn't go back to that if he tried, if he even wanted to.

 

To escape from one's purpose, from the universe's set lines, was impossible.

 

"No," Kylo states, suddenly, pulling Hux out of his thoughts. For a brief second Hux wonders if he got it horribly wrong, if all his observations were false, if the abandonment of logic was worthless and if this was truly what losing himself felt like. "Your fate isn't just the same as mine, Hux, your fate _is_ mine."

 

It hits Hux full-force then; the pull between them, begging for them to be closer, almost to merge and become one. It feels like finality, and that in itself is a relief. It feels like a means to an end – an escape from the purgatory that is this planet, one he was thrust into and destined to participate in. It feels like a sweet escape.

 

The feeling that had escaped him in the shuttle, the moment he saw the planet, the sensation of overwhelming relief and pride at having found it, found the path that would take him to completion. It filled him up, a golden glow that threatened to spill out of his mouth from his lungs.

 

He looked into Kylo's eyes with newfound determination, reached his hands out to push the man backwards towards the water. Instead of allowing the contact to occur the man instead walked out of Hux's reach, moving backwards into the luminescent lake. The General kicked off his boots and followed.

 

The water is icy cold again around his skin, seeping and biting down to his bones but he ignores it, ignores it in favour of the phantom feeling of the syrupy heat sliding over his skin, becoming ever more real as he wades out to where Kylo has stopped, just a ways off from the shore, the water sitting up to just under his navel.

 

When Hux reaches the taller man, he looks down at him with uncertainty in his eyes. Hux almost wants to scoff at it.

 

"Kylo," was all he said, but he watched as the man's expression shift from hesitance to something akin to sadness. Both with the same flickering resignation of acceptance. Hux's eyes must have reflected this, as Kylo's hand came up to run fingers down his cheek in an almost comforting gesture. Hux expected the digits to be ice-cold, much like the water that had, at this point, completely numbed his lower body. But the fingers sparked warmth across his skin, and finally, finally gave the very real feeling of the syrupy-gold warmth running down his skin.

 

"Do it," he spoke in barely a whisper, almost mourning as Kylo moved his hand from the side of his face to his shoulder. The warmth bloomed there and began trailing down his arm, though Hux found himself much preferring the feeling of it on his face.

 

Kylo kissed him then, just once on the lips. It was soft, slow, and tender, and Hux immediately reflected on stories he had been told from infancy. Stories of people woken up by the so-called 'Kiss of Life', and he couldn't help but wonder if that was exactly what this kiss was supposed to be.

 

It was the opposite of what one would imagine a kiss upon death to be. This was not a touch of lips to signal a goodbye, but rather a hello. This was a welcome, his welcome to his fate. His arrival at his end, his destiny.

 

This was him and Kylo, the beginning of an end and the start of an eternity.

 

The hand moved from his shoulders to his back, quickly joined by a second - the fluid warmth following their every move - and suddenly he was being pulled forwards, pressed into the man in front of him. In the same instant, Kylo fell backwards and broke the water, pulling Hux under with him.

 

The man's fingers curled and pulled at his back, tearing the back of his shirt open and digging into his skin. Hux felt the scrape of what felt like talons against his flesh, was reminded of the sensation he felt when resisting the pull what felt like an age ago. This was worlds different, however. Instead of a chilling burn all he felt was warmth, rushing through his skin and his veins, bringing his numb lower body to life again. He felt water in his ears, his stomach, his lungs, filling him up but yet at the same time he felt nothing. It was like breathing warm but fresh air, comforting and full of life, nothing like how he imagined drowning to be.

 

Kylo's lips had left his own but their bodies still held contact. The man was raking claws down his body, tearing through fabric and seeming to pull Hux out of his own skin. But still, it never became as horrifying as it sounded, and as his entire being was enclosed in the warmth – every inch of skin covered in the golden, syrup-like feeling – Hux felt an overbearing emotion.

 

Acceptance, he realised, as the water surrounding him began to fade away. Light danced behind his eyelids and was the only thing he could fully focus on besides Kylo surrounding him and the feeling overflowing from his chest, threatening to implode.

 

The pair continued to fall into the depths of the illuminated lake, finality swallowing Hux whole as the infinite darkness of the planet's ocean concealed them from sight.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The art is the work of the amazing [madeofplasma](http://madeofplasma.tumblr.com/), my partner for the Bang! Thank you for bringing this fic to life so beautifully, I absolutely adore what you've done!


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